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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26908003">oh boy</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightkun/pseuds/starlightkun'>starlightkun</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCT (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - High School, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Reader has a learning disability, auditory processing disorder specifically, which i have!! so a lot of this ends up being my own perosnal experiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 23:54:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,382</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26908003</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightkun/pseuds/starlightkun</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>in which math star park jisung really, really gets on your nerves</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Park Jisung (NCT)/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>63</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Transferring to a new school halfway into the first quarter of your junior year was bad. Joining college-level classes a quarter of the way into the school year was even worse. Not having the records of your auditory processing disorder transferred to your new school was <em>the</em> worst. Especially since none of your teachers would give you any sort of accommodations without medical proof and diagnosis.</p><p>You hadn’t made many friends at your new school. The frustration from the bureaucracy of the school system, your inability to understand things, and your poor grades had made you even more of a social outcast than just being the new kid would. There was one kid you would talk to sometimes, an upperclassman named Jeno who didn’t seem to have many friends either. Not that you two were friends, you sat together at the same lunch table where you ate in silence and did your own activities. He typically drew while you would be finishing up homework assigned the day before.</p><p>There was another boy who was in your history class that had attempted to befriend you. But Chenle’s friendly chatter during instruction only made you miss even more information, and one day you’d snapped and told him to fuck off. You were too mortified to apologize, just trying to focus back on the lesson.</p><p>It was now halfway into the second quarter and every day, as soon as you stepped foot onto the school grounds, your mood became disgruntled. You never took out your headphones until you got into your first period classroom. When you got there one late November morning, to your horror, there was a seating chart projected onto the board. And you were at the back of the classroom. Cursing your lack of proximity to the teacher, you begrudgingly went to your new seat.</p><p>You hadn’t even looked on the chart to see who was sat beside you, you just guessed that it was another student Mr. Han didn’t like and thus had moved as far away from him as possible. Pulling out your notebook and pencils, you didn’t even register that someone else had come into the room until they were sitting in the chair beside you.</p><p>Your head snapped up to look at them curiously. It was a brunette boy that you knew of, Park Jisung. He was pretty much Mr. Han’s star student, raising his hand for every question in class and getting all of them correct too. Top scores were posted on the bulletin board outside the classroom, and the initials PJS were always beside a 100% - 105%. You were never on the bulletin board.</p><p>Looking away from him, you narrowed your eyes to read the seating chart again. Yep, Park Jisung was definitely your deskmate. And he didn’t look thrilled about it. Neither were you. Now you’d just have someone beside you who knew everything and would make you look even dumber. Awesome.</p><p>“Morning.” You mumbled to him anyway, clicking your pen a couple times.</p><p>“Good morning,” Jisung replied politely, eyeing your hand as you clicked your pen again.</p><p>Despite your auditory processing disorder, the movement and your own control over the noise helped calm you down. You kept habitually clicking it as you focused back on your fresh page in your notebook. Another twenty seconds or so had passed when your pen was suddenly knocked from your hand.</p><p>You looked over at Jisung incredulously, almost in disbelief at the audacity of him. “You could’ve just asked me to stop, asshole.”</p><p>“I did. And you didn’t.” He scowled back, and you merely rolled your eyes before reaching down to pick your pen back up.</p><p>The lesson today was a continuation of using the Unit Circle, something you kind of understood only because Mr. Han had passed out a printed copy of it for you all to fill in. You desperately copied down the work that Mr. Han did, but he often skipped steps and explained them verbally, and you couldn’t keep up. Looking over at Jisung’s paper, you added in notes of the steps you didn’t have down in the margins as quick as you could. But Mr. Han was still talking, and now you were missing even more information.</p><p>At the end of the class, you were already frustrated enough from your initial conversation with Jisung and then the abysmal lecture, when your deskmate spoke to you again sternly, “Copy my work again and I will report you to Mr. Han. It’s not that hard to just listen to him if you cared.”</p><p>And if he hadn’t walked away at that exact moment you might have punched him. You actually might have taken your fist and smashed it right into his nose. But instead, you were just practically vibrating with rage for the rest of the day. At lunch, Jeno and you would typically have a minute or two of small talk before you would do your own things, but he didn’t even try it with you today. He could probably sense the anger radiating off of you.</p><p>For the next two weeks in math, you didn’t even glance in Jisung’s direction at all, the fear of being reported as a cheater was greater than your need to understand it. You could always go back into your textbook for all the steps.</p><hr/><p>On the day of your test on the Unit Circle, your desks were already separated when you walked in. When you sat at your desk, Jisung was already at his own, pencil out and ready. “Good luck,” You told him with no sincerity or kindness in your voice.</p><p>“Keep your luck, you need it more than me.” He scoffed back, watching you out of the corner of his eye as you got prepared for the test. Maybe trying to see if you’d cheat or something.</p><p>You purposefully turned your head and entire body away from Jisung, making a point that you weren’t cheating. Not like you’d do very well on the test anyway, the numbers swam in front of your eyes from lack of sleep, and the whirring of the fan in the air conditioning just made you more distracted and fidget even more. A smirk crossed your face as you clicked your mechanical pencil, knowing that Jisung couldn’t knock it out of your hand now. You clicked until the lead was almost all the way out, then pushed it back in. And repeat, only stopping to write down an answer.</p><p>You were surprisingly done before Jisung, admittedly probably with all the wrong answers, and raised your hand for Mr. Han to collect it.</p><p>Jisung finished just a couple minutes later. After his test had been collected, you could practically feel his judgmental stare on you. Lifting your head up from where you’d been resting it on the desk, you looked at him with an eyebrow raised. At your silent question, he merely huffed and looked away from you.</p><p>Rolling your eyes, you went back to your previous comfortable position, idly tapping your pencil on the desk. Jisung was done, there should be no reason for it to bother him now. Except you could feel his glare burning a hole through your hand as you did so. Not wanting to distract the other students, you tucked your pencil away in your backpack. The sounds of the air conditioning permeated your thoughts, making you even more fidgety. Bouncing your leg, looking around the room, twisting a ring around on your finger. Anxiety welled up in your chest for no reason, amplifying the sounds of another student’s breathing, the air conditioning, the rustling of papers.</p><p>The period couldn’t be over soon enough, you immediately launched yourself out of your seat, making a beeline for your next period. You needed to get out of there, and didn’t want to give Jisung the opportunity to say something else arrogant to you.</p><hr/><p>Your fourth class was history and when you sat at your desk, you turned around to face the boy behind you. “Hey, Chenle.”</p><p>He looked surprised that you were talking to him, but that quickly turned to a bright look of interest, “Hi, Y/N!”</p><p>“I have a question.”</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“Do you know a boy named Park Jisung? He’s in our gr—”</p><p>“Oh my god of course!” He yelled, catching the attention of the other students as well as the teacher. “Holy sh—”</p><p>You slammed your hand down on his desk to get his attention again, your face flushing as everyone turned back to what they were doing. He looked back at you with wide eyes.</p><p>“You’re really loud.” You whispered, to which the boy smiled sheepishly.</p><p>“Sorry, sorry. Yeah, I know him. Why are you asking?”</p><p>“Are you… friends with him?”</p><p>“I think we are, but according to him, we’re friendly acquaintances. From what I can tell he really doesn’t have any friends, in his opinion at least.”</p><p>“So he sounds like as much of an asshole as I thought he was.” You said, affirming it more to yourself than Chenle. “Cool, thanks.”</p><p>With that, you turned back around in your seat as the teacher called attendance. As she went through the list, there was someone tapping fervently on your shoulder. You scooted forward to avoid his incessant tapping, but his hand just followed your shoulder. Shaking your head in an attempt to get him to understand that you didn’t want to turn around, you felt about ready to break his fingers.</p><p>The teacher gave today as a free period to work on a worksheet with a partner and you had a hunch as to who would ask to be your partner. As soon as she dismissed you all to start working, Chenle practically launched himself into the empty seat beside you, scooting the desks together.</p><p>“Jisung’s not an asshole.” He stated, thankfully with something of an inside voice.</p><p>“You consider him your friend, but he calls you an acquaintance.” You retorted, setting your pencil down. There would be no way you’d be able to focus with Chenle wanting to have a conversation. “That sounds pretty asshole-ish to me.”</p><p>“In his defense, I consider most everyone in this school my friend, so it’s okay if he doesn’t feel the same.”</p><p>“Wait, do you think we’re friends?”</p><p>“Yep!”</p><p>The proud look on his face made you chuckle, admittedly he was kind of growing on you. “Okay, sure. We’re friends.”</p><p>“Cool!” Chenle seemed to suddenly get an idea. “What lunch do you have?”</p><p>“Next period.”</p><p>“Come sit at our table!”</p><p>“Our?”</p><p>“Me, and Lee Donghyuck, and Na Jaemin, and Jisung, and Huang R—”</p><p>“No.” You cut him off.</p><p>“So you can see that Jisung isn’t as bad as you think he is!” He tried to convince you, but you stayed firm on your position.</p><p>“Nope.”</p><p>“Why not?”</p><p>Knowing that he wouldn’t take ‘I think Park Jisung is a complete and total asshole and I want absolutely nothing to do with him and for him to go choke,’ as an excuse, you ran a hand through your hair. “Uh, because I can’t leave my friend alone.”</p><p>“Friend?”</p><p>“Why do you sound so surprised?”</p><p>“Jeno’s never called you his friend.”</p><p>You groaned at being caught, “How do you know everybody in this damn school?”</p><p>“I’m a friendly person!”</p><p>“I’m not sitting at your lunch table today.” You reaffirmed, picking your pencil back up and clicking the lead out. “And if you’re so buddy-buddy with Jeno why doesn’t he sit at your table?”</p><p>“He says he can’t concentrate at our table.”</p><p>“Yeah, I get that. Now can we do our work?”</p><hr/><p>Next period you didn’t even go to the cafeteria, instead, you went to the classroom of the only teacher who liked you. Mrs. Kim was the Korean Sign Language teacher, a subject you actually excelled at. Mainly due to the fact that it was signing, meaning that you didn’t have to listen to a lecture or instructions. It was all visual.</p><p>Knocking on the doorframe, you waited for her to look up at you. Her face immediately broke into a smile as she waved you in. “Hi, Y/N, how are you?”</p><p>“I’m good, Mrs. Kim.” As you said it, you signed <em>good</em>, a habit you’ve developed partially from learning the new language and your auditory processing disorder’s unfortunate effect of you needing to fidget for almost every waking moment of your life. “Could I hang out in here for this period? It’s my lunch period.”</p><p>“Sure,” She gestured to the seat in front of her desk, which you gratefully took. “Everything okay?”</p><p>“Yeah, just didn’t feel like going to lunch today.” You said nonchalantly, reaching into your bag for your lunch. “Am I allowed to eat in here?”</p><p>“Of course, just don’t tell the other kids I let you, or I’ll be finding snack wrappers everywhere.”</p><p>“Thank you.” Your hands matched your words as best they could with food in one of them.</p><p>“While you’re in here,” She reached behind her, grabbing a stack of papers. “Would you mind helping me grade some KSL 1 quizzes?”</p><p>“Sure!” You accepted the papers and grabbed a pen for yourself to start marking them with the answer key Mrs. Kim provided. “Where’s Jungwoo?” When you’d walked in you had noticed that her teacher’s assistant was missing.</p><p>“He went out for lunch with Mrs. Jung’s TA, Yoonoh, Mrs. Lee’s TA, Doyoung, and Mrs. Park’s TA, Sicheng.”</p><p>After you had nodded in understanding and went back to grading, your teacher didn’t try to converse with you further, not wanting to distract you. She was the only one who had believed you when you told her of your auditory processing disorder and tried to accommodate you the best that she could. You hummed to yourself as you graded, occasionally taking a bite of your food as you went.</p><p>The bell ringing prompted you to stack the papers that you’d finished apart from the ones still not graded before handing them back to Mrs. Kim. She placed them back on her desk before signing <em>thank you, have a good day</em> to you. You smiled and signed '<em>you’re welcome, see you later'</em> before leaving the classroom.</p><hr/><p>You saw Mrs. Kim again for your last period of the day, pretty much the only reason you didn’t just skip on the regular. As usual, you were the first person in her class, and you signed some small talk with her. She liked to test your receptive and conversational skills a lot. As more students started filtering in, you took your seat at the front middle, one that helped whenever she did give verbal instruction. Today you had a dialogue to do with a partner using your new vocabulary. Everybody paired off, leaving you without a partner. Awesome.</p><p>Raising your hand, you waited for your teacher to see you. <em>'Yes?’</em></p><p>
  <em>'I don’t have a partner.’</em>
</p><p>She nodded in understanding, gesturing for Jungwoo to come over from where he had been helping another student. <em>'Would you be Y/N’s partner for today?’</em></p><p><em>'Of course.’</em> He signed back with a smile before taking the empty seat beside you.</p><p>Formulating the dialogue was easy, each person only had to sign five lines. And then since Jungwoo was majoring in interpreting at the local college, and you were proficient as well, it took only a couple run-throughs to have the whole conversation down. You were planning on getting some homework done while you waited to show Mrs. Kim your conversation, but instead, Jungwoo struck up a conversation with you, talking as quietly as he could under his breath.</p><p>“Why don’t you ever have a partner?” He murmured, and you sighed at his question.</p><p>“There’s an odd number of students.” You replied, just as quiet.</p><p>“Yeah, but it’s always <em>you</em>, Y/N. Is everything okay?”</p><p>You knew the reason, but Jungwoo bringing up the fact that you had virtually no friends still stung a bit. He had good intentions, that you were sure of. But he seemed to be able to make friends everywhere, all of the other TAs were wrapped around his finger.</p><p>“I’m fine, none of my friends are this class is all.”</p><p>Jungwoo studied you for a moment before relenting, “Okay, okay. Do you want to run through the dialogue one more time?”</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>When presentations started, you and the TA were the first to be called up. Standing in front of the class, you took a deep breath before focusing solely on Jungwoo and what he was signing. His own confidence and calm demeanor soothed your anxieties from having to sign in front of the whole class. When your dialogue was finished, you bowed to Jungwoo, then to Mrs. Kim, then sat back in your seat. </p><p>There was still thirty minutes left of class, plenty of time for you to review your Unit Circle notes. Despite having just taken the test, you wanted to see what you had done so hopefully you could do it right on the final. You knew that your notes were incomplete, which only frustrated you further as you realized that you had switched cosine and sine during the whole test. No way you’d even get close to passing that test now.</p><p>Stuffing your headphones in your ears, you waited for the end of school. Shuffling down the halls, you tried to remember what homework you had to see if you had to take any binders from your locker. You couldn’t remember, despite trying to for some very frustrating nine minutes. Might as well just grab them all.</p><p>Now weighed down by several binders and textbooks in your bookbag and arms, you started the long and lonely trudge home. As you left the school grounds, you could immediately feel your spirits lifting, a sense of freedom seizing you. Feeling in your pocket for your phone, your hand landed on several bills. You’d forgotten that your mom had given you some money to pick up stuff for dinner, and something for yourself if there was enough left over.</p><p>In the grocery store, you grabbed a shopping cart mainly so you could throw your bookbag and all your other books and such in. Thankfully, your mom had also tucked a shopping list in with the money for you, making your task so much easier. Strolling through the store, you were displeased to have spotted Jisung at the end of one of the aisles, in the same apparel as the other workers and assisting another customer. Of course, you had to come during his shift.</p><p>You were about to swerve out of the aisle before he spotted you, not needing anything in it when you realized that he wasn’t actually helping the woman with him. He seemed distressed and confused as he tried to talk to the wildly gesturing customer, except she wasn’t just gesturing. She was signing and gesturing in a desperate attempt to communicate with him. You were tempted to just let him struggle but knew that wouldn’t be fair to the deaf woman. </p><p>Pushing your cart down the aisle, you stopped beside the woman, tapping her shoulder gently. She turned to look at you, and you signed to her with a smile, <em>'Hi, my name is Y/N. Do you need some help?’</em></p><p>The woman looked relieved before signing back to you, <em>'Please. Are you hearing?’</em></p><p>
  <em>'Yes, I’m learning sign language.’</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Good for you. Could you ask him where the udon noodles are? I can’t find them anywhere and he’s being so dense I’m ready to smack him. Don’t tell him that.’</em>
</p><p><em>'Of course.’</em> Stifling a laugh at her frustration with him, you then turned to the bewildered Jisung. “She wants to know where the udon noodles are.”</p><p>As you spoke, you made sure to sign what you were saying too, not wanting to disrespect the deaf woman. Jisung blinked twice before replying, seeming unsure of who to address, you or the other patron. “Uh, aisle 15.”</p><p><em>'Aisle 15.’</em> You informed the woman, and she was ecstatic to finally have an answer.</p><p>
  <em>'Thank you so much, Y/N!’</em>
</p><p>With that, she turned back down the aisle, leaving you with a stunned Jisung. Securing the handles of your shopping cart in your hands, you started pushing it back down the aisle when your classmate spoke out to you, “Thanks.”</p><p>“I didn’t do it to help you,” You stopped to retort. “I did it to save that poor woman from your ignorance.”</p><p>Resuming your shopping in a much worse mood, you were thankful to just be rid of Park Jisung again. Even if it was just for a little while.</p><hr/><p>In math class the next day, you weren’t sure if Jisung’s thanks from yesterday would extend to him being tolerable today. Testing the waters, you gave him a quiet greeting. No reply except for a roll of his eyes as he looked away.</p><p>After attendance, your teacher announced that he had just a few tests left to grade from yesterday and he’d pass them out at the end of the period, giving you all a free period. You took the opportunity to review your History notes from yesterday, another class whose primary delivery of information was through lecture. But at least your teacher typically had the main ideas on a Powerpoint.</p><p>When he had finished grading them, Mr. Han announced that most everyone did really well. You knew that you weren’t part of that, your suspicions being solidified when he handed your paper with mild disdain on his face, not seeming to be concerned at all about your failing grade. Again. He was probably used to writing Ds and Fs on your papers so often that they didn’t faze him at all.</p><p>22%, your worst yet.</p><p>“See what happens when you cheat?” Came the smug voice of your deskmate, and your eyes didn’t miss the 105% proudly on display in purple ink at the top of his paper.</p><p>Not wanting to deal with him, you flipped your paper over to hide the red marks, burrowing your face into your arm. “Leave me alone.”</p><p>“I’m just saying—”</p><p>“Fuck off.”</p><p>“That’s uncalled for.” He seemed only slightly affronted, mostly amused at your reaction.</p><p>The bell rang, and you stuffed your paper in your backpack before sliding it over your shoulder. Jisung followed you out of the classroom, still harassing you, “Really, is it so hard to just pay attention and <em>listen</em> to him for once—”</p><p>With his stress on 'listen,’ you finally snapped. You pushed him back against a locker with an arm across his chest, the metal clanging as he impacted with it roughly, which you couldn’t care less about. People were probably staring, but the only thing you were focused on was finally giving this arrogant asshole a piece of your mind. </p><p>“Fuck you, Park Jisung. Fuck you and your fucking 105% and fucking straight As and perfect fucking school record and wonderful brain that doesn’t fuck up everything you hear and make it fucking impossible to understand anything and makes you fail all your classes no matter how hard you try or how much you care because nobody believes you. Go choke.”</p><p>With that final sentiment, you fled the scene, fervently wiping at the hot tears stinging their way down your face and the saliva that had accumulated at the corners of your mouth. Your second period didn’t matter, you decided, locking yourself in a bathroom stall. Pressing toilet paper to your eyes, you furiously tried to stop crying. You knew you looked pathetic, bawling your eyes out sitting on a cold porcelain toilet, a crumpled 22% poking out of the top of your bookbag and no sort of friends in sight.</p><p>Drawing your phone out of your pocket, your thumbs clumsily typed out a message to your mom.</p><p>[you: can you come pick me up right now]</p><p>The tears still flooding your eyes made it hard to see, and you waited with baited breath for her to reply. You busied yourself with trying to clean up the mess on your face, not wanting your mom to think anything was wrong. She hated the school enough for the hassle with your transcripts, you didn’t need her to be marching down here demanding Park Jisung’s head on a pike.</p><p>[mom: Of course, what’s wrong?]</p><p>[you: i feel really nauseous]</p><p>You did feel sick to your stomach, anxiety churning around as you worried about not only your grades but if Jisung or another student had reported you for assaulting him or something. Your phone buzzed again.</p><p>[mom: I’ll be there in five minutes]</p><p>[you: thank you]</p><p>After four minutes, you gave yourself a final check over in the mirror before quickly weaving through the halls and out the front door. Your mom was in one of the front parking spaces, and you practically threw yourself into her car. Once you were in, you made sure that your bag was completely closed, concealing the test grade. The move took enough of a toll on her, you could deal with this yourself, hopefully. Today you just needed a break.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. [two]</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next morning, you said goodbye to your mom as she headed off to work then went back inside and plopped yourself down on the couch. You weren’t going to first period today. Or tomorrow. Maybe not ever. Maybe you could skip first period every day and never have to see Mr. Han, or Park Jisung, or a failing grade ever again. That sounded like a plan to you.</p><p>Stepping on campus, you stopped at your locker to retrieve your second class’s folder from your locker. The hallways were empty, and every movement you made sounded too loud to you. But you liked the quiet, especially since you had an earbud in playing your favorite music. It made the silence much less garish to your ears.</p><p>The bell ringing pierced through your music, and the halls were immediately flooded with students. Knowing your locker’s proximity to Mr. Han’s classroom, you let the crowd carry you in the opposite direction towards your second class. So far today was shaping up to be a pretty good day.</p><hr/><p>Come time for lunch, you were disappointed to find that Mrs. Kim had a lunch meeting with the other Language teachers, forcing you to actually go to the lunchroom. Surprisingly, Jeno wasn’t at your lunch table when you arrived, and with a shrug you sat down. Must be out sick or something. You’d barely opened your lunch bag when a familiar figure was standing beside your table, fingers messing with the straps of his backpack. Not even taking another glance at him, you resumed pulling your food out to start eating.</p><p>“Uh, hi, Y/N.” Jisung said, and you realized that was the first time you’d ever heard him actually say your name rather than a derogatory 'you’.</p><p>Still not speaking to him, you moved to pull out your phone, then your headphones.</p><p>“Y/N.” He said again, this time sitting in the seat beside you.</p><p>You froze for a moment when he did so, then resumed plugging your headphones in as he fervently went through his backpack.</p><p>“Wait, Y/N!” Jisung suddenly slammed a binder down on the table, halting your movements.</p><p>Flitting your eyes over the papers as he opened it and started flipping through it, you realized that it was his math binder. You rolled your eyes, putting the first earbud in your ear. You didn’t need him bragging even more about his perfect grades.</p><p>The boy didn’t seem to have noticed you pulling up your playlist as his hand finally secured whatever paper he was looking for. “I-I figured, since you weren’t in class today, that you could look at— I mean, you could copy my notes, or something. If you want.”</p><p>You looked over at him in surprise, eyeing the paper with his neat handwriting all over it. Park Jisung was actually offering to have you copy his notes when just a few weeks ago he was ready to get you in trouble for doing the same thing. Gently accepting the paper from his hand, you uttered, “Thank you.”</p><p>A close-lipped smile spread across his face as he replied, sounding a little less nervous than before. “Of course. And let me know, if you maybe need—uh—if you want help on any of the problems.”</p><p>You gave him a nod before setting your phone down, reaching into your own backpack for a piece of paper and pencil. As you copied his notes over, you noticed that they seemed even more detailed than they normally were. Almost as if he had copied down every little thing Mr. Han had said. When you got to the first practice problem, you tried to solve it by going between the carefully written out procedures, coming upon your own answer before comparing it to Jisung’s on his paper. Not even close.</p><p>Groaning in frustration, you went back to analyze where you had gone wrong. But you couldn’t find out what had happened. Finally, you looked over to Jisung for help to find him already watching you, nervously chewing on his own food. His eyes widened at being… caught? Was that what had happened?</p><p>“Uhm, could you help me with this problem? I’m doing something wrong.” You slid your paper over to him, tapping your pen to the issue. He immediately went to hastily swallow whatever he had been eating, probably the ramen he had brought in a bright pink tupperware.</p><p>“Of course, uh—give me a second.” He opened his bag again, grabbing himself a pencil.</p><p>Jisung mumbled to himself as he reviewed your work step-by-step. “Yeah—that’s good— mhm— yeah— oh, I’m an idiot!”</p><p>Your eyebrows shot up at Park Jisung claiming himself to be an idiot, waiting for his explanation. He sheepishly gave your work back to you, “I forgot to write something down, I’m sorry. Mr. Han said that limits—”</p><p>Jisung stopped himself as he saw you started adding to your notes, giving you enough time to write what he was saying. “Limits only exist… at asymptotes… if both sides of the graph… are going in the same direction.”</p><p>You nodded, returning to your problem with this new knowledge. “So that’s why there’s no limit on this problem, because one side is going towards negative infinity and the other is going towards positive infinity?”</p><p>“Yep!”</p><p>“Thanks, Jisung.” You genuinely smiled at him as you also signed <em>thank you</em>, before returning to the other practice problems.</p><p>After writing down the textbook problem numbers, you spent the rest of lunch in silence with Jisung. Was it a comfortable silence? No, you still found yourself fidgeting nervously, but at least you weren’t silently fuming and plotting his death anymore. It was more just that neither of you knew if you should speak or what to say.</p><p>The bell rang, and you gave Jisung a small goodbye before disappearing down the halls.</p><hr/><p>From that day on, you noticed that Jisung seemed to be trying to attune himself to your disability more. He took ultra detailed notes that he offered to you to copy down, repeated anything Mr. Han had said while you were writing, and seemed to know exactly when to visit your lunch table to help you with a new math concept.</p><p>You began to wish that you had him in every one of your classes, an idea you would’ve gagged at earlier that year. Both Chenle and your mother seemed to have noticed some kind of change in you. Chenle commented on how you only ever told him to fuck off in a friendly way now; your mom said that you finally seemed excited to go to school again. Even Jeno would hold lengthier conversations with you at lunch, showing you the drawings and watercolors he was always working on.</p><p>Chenle finally asked something you knew he’d been trying to refrain from, “So… what’s new?”</p><p>“What do you mean?” You queried, eyebrows furrowed.</p><p>“You’re not… as— I don’t know. You’re not how you were a couple weeks ago. You’re actually nice.”</p><p>“Oh, fuck off.”</p><p>“I’m being serious! Both you and Jisung. He actually called us his friends the other day.”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Yeah, and he’s actually like, you know, a human.”</p><p>“Wow.” You offered no more information, eyes scanning the textbook in front of you.</p><p>“He sits at your lunch table sometimes, right? Jeno tells me you guys work on math.”</p><p>“We do.”</p><p>“And that you guys talk and giggle and laugh and that you haven’t snapped Jisung’s neck yet.”</p><p>Looking at Chenle with narrowed eyes, you asked, “So?”</p><p>“So, you guys are friends now, right?”</p><p>“I guess so.”</p><p>The boy next to you immediately lit up, voice raising with excitement, “You should totally sit at our lunch table now!”</p><p>Thankfully, everybody else was talking too, making Chenle’s loudness not too out of place.</p><p>“Jisung hasn’t invited me to sit there, I don’t want to intrude.”</p><p>“So? <em>I</em> invited you.”</p><p>“And leaving Jeno alone would be a little rude, we actually talk to each other now.”</p><p>“Then drag him with you.”</p><p>“Isn’t there a reason he doesn’t sit with you guys?”</p><p>“He’ll live if he doesn’t draw during lunch one day.”</p><p>“Chenle, I appreciate the offer, but I’m going to pass today.”</p><p>“If Jisung asks you will you come?” He challenged, inciting a roll of your eyes.</p><p>“Yeah, sure.”</p><hr/><p>After Mr. Han had finished the instructions for your practice worksheet, you could only remember the very first and very last thing you had to do. As you turned to Jisung sheepishly, you saw that your deskmate was one step ahead of you. He had drawn out a small diagram as the teacher had talked, adding notes of all the little steps in between he knew you’d forget. Without prompting, he started quietly and gently re-explaining it to you, and with the added visual you started to understand what was happening.</p><p>“Oh, oh, got it!” You whispered excitedly, immediately going to the first problem on the worksheet.</p><p>After five problems, you regrouped with Jisung to review your answers. You had gotten all of the same answers except for one, which you were sure you’d done right.</p><p>“Okay so, first you’ve got to…” Jisung trailed off in his explanation, eyes widening almost comically as he fervently went between your paper, his paper, and his notes. “Uh—nevermind. Nevermind. You did it right.”</p><p>“Wait… that means that you got it wrong?” You gasped loudly, but still whispered as you declared, “I got a math question right and Math God Park Jisung didn’t?”</p><p>“Yeah, congrats,” Jisung said with red ears as he went to erase his work.</p><p>“I never thought this day would come! I need to mark my calendar!”</p><p>“Oh, stop. I do get questions wrong sometimes, you’re the one that invented the idea that I know every answer to every math question.”</p><p>“Ah, I’m just teasing, Jisungie.” You patted his forearm reassuringly right as he accidentally ripped through his paper with the eraser. “Oh. You good?”</p><p>Now Jisung’s entire face was bright pink as he stood up and mumbled, “I’m going to ask Mr. Han for another one.”</p><p>When he returned to your desk pair with a fresh sheet, he set to work on redoing the first five problems as you continued on with the rest. There was a click in the somewhat quiet room as the air conditioner turned out. The hums filtered through the room, going undetected by most of your classmates but all too present to yourself. Your leg started bouncing as if it had a mind of its own, hand instinctively tapping your pencil along your desk.</p><p>“Y/N,” Jisung said quietly, reaching a hand over to halt your pencil. “You’re tapping again.”</p><p>“Sorry, sorry.” You also signed as you stopped, your hands still needing to do something as you readjusted yourself in your seat and crossed your ankles under your chair.</p><p>You read a question that you realized you’d read about seven times before, but you just couldn’t comprehend what it was saying. The air conditioning was still going.</p><p>“Y/N.”</p><p>“Hm?”</p><p>“You’re clicking now.”</p><p>“You gonna slap it out of my hand again?” You had snapped before you realized it, face heating up as you mumbled out an apology. “I’m sorry.”</p><p>Jisung set his own pencil down, resting his cheek on his hand as he fully turned to look at you softly. “Is it the air conditioning? It’s irritating you?”</p><p>“Yeah.” You lowered your voice, leaning in towards him as you whispered, “And I can hear the mucus in his chest every time Mr. Han breathes.”</p><p>“Gross.”</p><p>“Yep.”</p><p>“So how does it work, your auditory processing disorder?”</p><p>“My brain is fucking stupid.” You deadpanned, your hands instinctively signing stupid as your mouth said it.</p><p>There was a sting on your forehead as your friend suddenly flicked you. “No, you’re not.”</p><p>“You really want to know?”</p><p>“Why do you think I’m asking?” Jisung’s reply made you roll your eyes and flick him in response. “No, seriously. I want to try to understand.”</p><p>You tried to think of how to explain it to him. “Uh, scientifically, my central nervous system—my brain—doesn’t efficiently or accurately process the information it’s given from my ears and attributes to me having ADHD symptoms as well. But uh, personal experience, I can’t remember or understand stuff given to me audibly. It literally just goes in one ear and out the other. I also uh, hyperfixate on things, such as the sound of air conditioning, someone breathing, or me tapping a pencil. So when you so rudely knocked my pen out of my hand that one time, I really <em>didn’t</em> hear you ask me to stop.”</p><p>“Oh. Sorry, by the way. Do you know like, what caused it?” Jisung was really the first person you’d known who had genuinely taken an interest in your disorder. It was a refreshing change from everyone here who didn’t believe it even existed.</p><p>“There’s no one concrete cause for it, it can be a bunch of different things, and we don’t know where mine came from.” Just talking to him had already relaxed you, the bouncing of your leg slowing down as you focused on your friend.</p><p>It was then that the bell rang, and the shuffling of papers and kids chatting erupted around the room. “If you didn’t finish, this is due tomorrow!” Mr. Han called out after the kids who had already run out of the room.</p><p>“We can probably get it done at lunch, less homework,” Jisung suggested, dropping his binder into his bag.</p><p>“Wish I could, but I’m not going to be at lunch. Mom is picking me up early.” You explained, shouldering your own bookbag and taking Jisung’s arm in yours to walk out of the classroom. He immediately tensed against you, but nonetheless, let you guide him to your locker. Jisung’s awkwardness with any kind of contact was amusing to you.</p><p>“Why? Are you feeling okay?”</p><p>“Just a checkup.” You tapped your ear, eliciting an understanding nod from him. Then you realized that you didn’t need anything from your locker considering that you were leaving after History, leaning against it to talk to Jisung. “We can do it after school if you’d like. My mom has been dying to meet one of the only two classmates I ever mention.”</p><p>“Wish I could,” He echoed your own words. “But I’ve got work after school.”</p><p>“Maybe I’ll visit you there.” You suggested, habitually signing a couple of the words you said, <em>visit</em> and <em>you.</em></p><p>“Noooo.”</p><p>“What if you have another deaf patron that you’re unable to communicate with?”</p><p>“Then I’ll send out the Bat signal or something, okay?”</p><p>You laughed lightly, enjoying the pink tinge on your friend’s ears when you had suggested visiting him at work. “I’ll be watching for it. See you tomorrow, Jisungie.”</p><hr/><p>“Y/N! Y/N! Y/N! Y/N! Y/N!”</p><p>“Zhong Chenle if you yell my name one more time at that high of a frequency I will throat chop your vocal cords in half with no remorse.”</p><p>You were currently walking with Chenle to his home, as you had partnered up for a history project. A decision you were now sorely regretting. His excitement at you coming over was nice, but an excited Chenle made you too tired too quickly. Especially when you had a rough time with math that day, something that even Jisung couldn’t fix during lunch.</p><p>“Sorry.” His voice returned to its natural tone and volume, but that same pep was still in his step. “I’m just really excited.”</p><p>“To do a project on Japanese imperialism in Korea?” You snorted, kicking a rock out of your way. “Sounds more depressing than exciting.”</p><p>“Not about that! But because you’re coming over while my brother is home! He’s really cool, he graduated last year and he’s back from college right now.”</p><p>“Is he a history major or something?”</p><p>“What? No, he’s majoring in… Actually, I don’t know what he’s majoring in. I just know that it’s <em>not history</em>.”</p><p>“Then what does he have to do with our project?”</p><p>“Y/N, it’s not all about projects, you know.”</p><p>“It should be, you’ve got that abysmal test grade to make up for.”</p><p>“Hey!”</p><p>“Am I wrong?”</p><p>“No.” Chenle conceded, a pout on his lips.</p><p>You sighed, realizing that you did need to lighten up on your friend a little bit. “Sorry, Chenle. You’re right, we can still have fun. Tell me about how wonderful your older brother is.”</p><p>Chenle had rambled on for so long and repeated himself so many times that you could actually retain several pieces of information about his older brother. He apparently had three different names and you could call him by any of them, but your friend called him Xuxi the most. Xuxi was in college, and according to Chenle, was just as loud as him. Boy, you were just so excited.</p><p>At the Zhong’s home, Chenle gestured to where in the kitchen you could set your stuff down as he announced, “I’m home! And I brought a friend!”</p><p>“Chenle!” Came a deep and unnecessarily loud reply as a man much larger than your friend popped up into your view. Must be Xuxi.</p><p>The brunette boy joined the two of you in the kitchen, your friend almost immediately attaching himself to his brother’s side as he chattered on about his day. You observed their enthusiastic interactions with interest, your own household was just you and your mom. Finally, Chenle ended with explaining your history project, bringing you back into the conversation.</p><p>“This is Y/N, she’s my partner for the project.” He gestured to you, and you bowed slightly to Xuxi.</p><p>“Nice to meet you, I’m Xuxi, or Yukhei, or Lucas. Call me whatever, I’ll respond to most anything.”</p><p>“Like a dog?” You couldn’t help but blurt out, eliciting a wide grin and hearty laugh from both of the brothers.</p><p>“Just like a dog.” Xuxi agreed. “So what class is the project for?”</p><p>“History.”</p><p>His nose wrinkled up in response. “No thanks. Could’ve helped you all if it was Calc, though.”</p><p>“Oh, are you going to be a mathematician?”</p><p>“Math teacher, actually. So if you ever need some tutoring, I do it for free at the public library on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Need the hours and experience.”</p><p>Xuxi’s offer made you smile, the idea of a real almost-math teacher helping you sounded great. “Yeah, I’ll definitely go sometime. Thanks.”</p><p>“Speaking of tutoring,” He forcefully detached Chenle from him to grab his keys from the kitchen counter. “It’s Thursday. I’ll be back in a couple hours. Are you staying for dinner, Y/N?”</p><p>“Ah, I’m not sure yet.”</p><p>“Well if you are, have Chenle text me your takeout order so I can pick it up on my way back.”</p><p>“Oh, thanks.”</p><p>“No problem. See you two later!” With a final bright grin and wave, Xuxi was out the front door.</p><p>There was a sudden pinch on your cheek, and you swatted Chenle’s hand away. “What was that for?”</p><p>“Your cheeks are pink! I’ve never seen you blush before!” He cackled, pinching your other one.</p><p>“No they’re not.” You turned away from him, rolling your eyes. “I’m flushed from the walk home. Can I have some water?”</p><p>“Wait till I tell Jisung you have a crush on my brother!”</p><p>“I don’t!” You protested as Chenle grabbed you a cold water bottle from the fridge. “He’s just nice, is all, and I don’t have an older brother or any siblings.”</p><p>“Mhm.”</p><p>“Choke.”</p><p>“Maybe I will, then you’ll have to do this whole project by yourself.”</p><p>“Choke after we finish our project.”</p><p>“I’ll put that on my to-do list, then.”</p><hr/><p>You did end up deciding to stay for dinner, the project was taking longer than you had anticipated. Apparently, your teacher didn’t account for the fact that you’d have other homework, as you were not even a quarter of the way done by the time it was nearing your curfew of 10 pm.</p><p>“Let’s put a pause on this, I’ve got to get going home before my mom assumes I’ve been murdered.” You declared, standing up from where you’d been sitting cross-legged on Chenle’s bed. Stretching your legs out, you tucked your papers away in your folder as your friend flopped back against his pillows.</p><p>“I’m dead, I’m officially deceased, Mrs. Lee has succeeded in killing me with all this work.” He exclaimed dramatically, pushing his own binder off his lap and onto the floor.</p><p>“Can I give a eulogy at your funeral? I was thinking something along the lines of: Zhong Chenle, beloved son, brother, and annoying ass dolphin. He will only kind of be missed.”</p><p>He cackled from where he was lying down, pushing on your leg with his foot, “You’re so mean!”</p><p>You grabbed his foot, yanking on his leg to unbalance him enough so that he fell off his bed with a yelp. Giggling, you watched him roll over and give you a glare. “This is bullying.”</p><p>“It’s not my fault you’re such an easy target.” You shook your head, shouldering your bookbag. “I’m going to call my mom to come take me home.” Without thinking, you signed along to <em>call, mom,</em> and <em>home.</em></p><p>When you pulled your phone out of your bag, you were alarmed to see seventeen texts and three missed calls, most from Jisung. “Aish, is this boy dying or something?”</p><p>“Jisung?” Chenle asked, dragging himself back onto his bed.</p><p>“Yeah, three missed calls and like fifteen messages.”</p><p>“My bad.”</p><p>“What did you do?”</p><p>Chenle held his phone screen out to you to show his text conversation with Jisung.</p><p>[jisung: y/n isn’t answering her phone]</p><p>[chenle: she’s not dead]</p><p>[jisung: that’s not what i was going to ask]</p><p>[chenle: so what were you going to ask?]</p><p>[jisung: if she was mad at me or something]</p><p>[chenle: nah, we’re just working on a project and she turned her phone off to concentrate. her hearing thing i think]</p><p>[jisung: oh yeah, she does that when we study too]</p><p>[chenle: and also she’s got a huge crush on my brother or something]</p><p>[chenle: she’s out of the bathroom gotta go bye!!!!!]</p><p>[jisung: zhong chenle get back here!!]</p><p>“You’re such a little bitch!” You groaned, swatting the side of his head. “I don’t have a crush on Xuxi!”</p><p>“Oh I know, that’d be really gross, he’s like super old.”</p><p>“Then why did you tell Jisung that?”</p><p>“You were in the bathroom. Y/N, you’re like 89% of my impulse control at the moment.” Chenle admitted, and if you could roll your eyes any harder they’d pop out of your skull.</p><p>“What about the other 11%?”</p><p>He merely shrugged, and you swatted his head again, “You’re impossible, Chenle.”</p><p>It was then that there was a knock at the open door, and you whipped around to find Xuxi standing there, already in his pajamas and looking very concerned. “I heard some yells and my name, is everything alright up here?”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, I was just about to call my mom to come pick me up.” You informed him, clicking your mom’s contact in your phone.</p><p>“Chenle and I can take you home. He needs some practice driving at night if you’re okay with that.”</p><p>“I’m a really great driver!” Chenle piped up, an excited grin on his lips.</p><p>“Well, I don’t know if I trust you with my life, you hit me in the face with a pen.” You said in an exaggerated tone, eliciting an elbow in your side from your friend.</p><p>“Because you threw it at me first!”</p><p>“I’m kidding, that’d be great if you could take me home. I’ll text my mom to let her know.”</p><p>“Cool, I’ll meet you two downstairs in a couple minutes. Chenle, don’t forget your permit, we don’t want to get pulled over the one time you forget it.”</p><p>“Why would we get pulled over?” The younger brother scoffed, grabbing his wallet from his nightstand.</p><p>“If you swerve because Y/N threw a pen at your face.”</p><p>“Hey!” You said indignantly as Xuxi left the room chuckling.</p><hr/><p>Once Chenle put the car into park in your driveway, your phone buzzed in your pocket. Ignoring it, you thanked the brothers for their hospitality and taking you home before climbing out of their car. Your phone was still buzzing as you stepped through your front door.</p><p>“Mom, I’m home!” You called out, hanging your bookbag off the back of a chair.</p><p>“Hey, honey. How is your project coming along?” She greeted you, kissing your temple as she walked by to get two cups from the cupboard.</p><p>“Ah great, we’ll probably end up finishing it early. And it turns out that Chenle’s older brother, Xuxi, does math tutoring at the library, so I’ll probably drop by there for help sometimes.”</p><p>“Oh that’s perfect!” She filled up the mugs with water that was already boiling on the stove before tossing tea bags into each.</p><p>You took one mug, sitting across from her at the kitchen table. “Tell me about your day, mom.”</p><p>After your mugs were drained, she had given you a shopping list for tomorrow, and a very unfortunate headache had started radiating through your brain, you gave your mother a goodnight kiss then retreated into your bedroom. Changing into pajamas, you finally checked your phone again. Surprise, the call was from Jisung.</p><p>You called him back, and he picked up after only two rings, “Hey, Y/N!”</p><p>“Hey. Is something wrong?” You laid back on your bed, eyebrows furrowed with concern.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Then why did you call me eight bajillion times? I thought you were dying or something.”</p><p>“I didn’t realize you were doing a project and got a little too worried I guess. I thought you hated me or something.”</p><p>You let out a light laugh at how Jisung’s voice got soft and faster as he rambled on. “I turned off my phone while I was working, Chenle and Xuxi actually just dropped me off. And, if I hated you I’d tell you, remember?”</p><p>“Xuxi.”</p><p>“…Chenle’s older brother.”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Please don’t tell me you actually believed Chenle’s bullshit about me liking Xuxi. He’s old and pretty much just a larger, somehow louder, Chenle.”</p><p>“You poor thing,” Jisung commented, his voice returning to its normal tone of slight sarcasm.</p><p>“Yeah, I’m like dead exhausted just from hanging around them for so long. I couldn’t imagine being with someone that high-energy.”</p><p>“Oh, am I keeping you up? You can sleep, you don’t have to be—”</p><p>You cut him off, a fond smile creeping across your lips, “Nah, it’s fine Jisung. Just talking to you already has me refreshed.”</p><p>“Oh…” His voice squeaked, and he coughed trying to get it back under control. “That’s good.”</p><p>“Ah, I just remembered. Heads up, Mom Y/L/N is sending me out grocery shopping tomorrow for dinner, and you’re on her list.”</p><p>“W-what?”</p><p>“I’m not even kidding, it says and I quote,” You held the paper up to read off of it. “'Onions, jasmine rice, bread rolls, that boy Jisung that you always talk about, and milk.’ Don’t worry, you’re not an ingredient, that’s just her way of inviting you to dinner.”</p><p>There was a pause before you friend replied, “I’ll- I’ll ask my parents tomorrow!”</p><p>“Are you working tomorrow?”</p><p>“No, just Tuesdays and Thursdays.”</p><p>“Great! We can go shopping together after school and then you can come over and hang out before we eat.”</p><p>“Al-Alright.”</p><p>You frowned at your friend’s apparent hesitation. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”</p><p>“No!” Jisung immediately yelled out, causing you to wince away from the speaker. “I really do want to. Do you think she’ll like me?”</p><p>“She’ll probably start planning on adopting you by the end of the night.”</p><p>“I have parents.” His humor had come back as he was reassured by your promise.</p><p>“If I could flick you right now I would.” You scoffed, readjusting yourself in your bed. “I mean that she’ll love you.”</p><p>“I’m still going to be an awkward mess.”</p><p>“Well of course, because you’re my awkward mess.”</p><p>“Y-Yeah, I guess I am.” He let out a couple short, nervous laughs. “I’ve still got a little homework to finish, so I’ll let you know if I can come tomorrow.”</p><p>“Good luck with your homework! Sweet dreams and I’ll see you tomorrow, Jisungie.” You gave him a cheerful goodbye that he belatedly offered a hollow reply to.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. [three]</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next day, you found yourself speed walking to get to first period, a new development. Even after becoming friends with Jisung, you never did quite look forward to your math class. But now you wanted to know if Jisung had gotten permission for dinner at your house tonight. The idea of your mom meeting him was terrifying to both you and him, for different reasons. He was afraid that she wouldn’t like him, and you were afraid that she would like him too much and make him even more uncomfortable.</p><p>You grabbed two copies of the worksheet Mr. Han had set out at the front of the classroom, setting one on Jisung’s desk as you skimmed over the other. Didn’t look too difficult so far, but you were sure that as soon as you actually tried to do it, your mind would fail you. Humming to yourself, you took out some paper and your pencil to wait for your deskmate. You scrolled on your phone with one hand as the other held your pencil.</p><p>“Y/N.” A voice came at the same time as a hand pressing on yours, and you knew who it was before you even looked up.</p><p>“Morning, Jisung!” You said cheerfully, eyeing the fact that his hand was still on yours.</p><p>“You were tapping.”</p><p>“My bad.” You said sheepishly, still not withdrawing your hand, waiting for him to do it first.</p><p>He looked at you for a couple more moments before retracting his hand and joining you at your desk pair. ­­­­­"So, are you coming for dinner?“ You asked eagerly, watching him grab a pencil for himself.</p><p>"Uh, yeah, yeah I am. You said right after school?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“So we’d be leaving school together?”</p><p>“Yeah, is that okay?”</p><p>“Of course!” Jisung blurted out before lowering his voice again. “Of course, I was just making sure, that <em>you</em> were okay with that.”</p><p>You raised an eyebrow at him questioningly, “Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”</p><p>“Uh, my friends, they would uh, see us.”</p><p>“And?”</p><p>“Never mind.”</p><p>After that weird conversation, the both of you went to focus on the worksheet. You noticed that Jisung still hadn’t relaxed by the end of the period, especially when you linked your arms to leave the room like you usually did. As you slowed to stop at your locker, Jisung awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, “I’ve got to go find Jaemin before next period. Bye, Y/N.”</p><p>“Are you sitting with me at lunch?” You called after him, but he was already too far down the hall to have heard you.</p><hr/><p>You were still frowning from your earlier interaction with Jisung when you had sat down beside Chenle in history. Just as he opened his mouth to greet you, you declared with a sigh, “Jisung is fucking weird.”</p><p>“Nothing new.” Your friend jested but tilted his head to add, “But you’ve never mentioned it before. Why now?”</p><p>“He’s coming to my house for dinner tonight, and he’s being really weird about it.”</p><p>“Dinner? As in, he’s meeting the mom?”</p><p>“Yeah, it was her idea.”</p><p>“Do you realize that he’s for sure just on constant internal freak-out mode right now?”</p><p>“I figured that much, but even with just normal stuff he’s being…”</p><p>“Weird.” Chenle finished your sentence, to which you nodded.</p><p>“Mhm, he didn’t even let me know if he’s sitting with me at lunch or not.”</p><p>“He’s sitting with us.” Chenle held up a finger for you to wait as he opened his phone, showing you a group chat labeled 'these fuckers.’ You guessed that Jisung was the one in as 'precious maknae’, you knew that he was the youngest of his friends.</p><p>[precious maknae: i’ll be at your lunch table today]</p><p>[jeno: mine or theirs?]</p><p>[precious maknae: theirs]</p><p>[renjun: for the first time in like a month, i s2g]</p><p>[nana: i thought you were going to be sitting with your girl friend today]</p><p>[precious maknae: y/n’s not my girlfriend!!]</p><p>[nana: i know, that’s why i said 'girl friend’ and not 'girlfriend’]</p><p>[hyuckie: no need to get so unnecessarily defensive, jisungie]</p><p>[precious maknae: go choke, donghyuckie]</p><p>[hyuckie: fuck off]</p><p>[chenle: lmao you learned that from y/n]</p><p>[precious maknae: unlike you guys, i actually want to learn at school, so i’m turning my phone off now]</p><p>[hyuckie: goody two-shoes]</p><p>[nana: nerd]</p><p>You handed Chenle’s phone back to him, a faint smile from reading their conversation lingering on your face as an idea popped into your mind. “You know how you offered for me to sit at your lunch table a while ago?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“I think I’d like to take you up on that offer.”</p><p>“Awesome! This is going to be so much fun!”</p><p>At the end of the period, Chenle waited up for you to pack your stuff like he normally did, but this time you accompanied him to his locker. He got a textbook before practically running down the hall, forcing you to speedwalk behind him.</p><p>“Chenle! Slow down!” You grabbed his elbow, stopping your excitable to let you catch up. “It’s like taking care of a puppy, I swear.”</p><p>“But I’m a cute puppy, right?”</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>Chenle led you to a booth table at the edge of the lunchroom, where you could already identify the hunched over figure of Jisung, fervently writing. There were already a couple bags there too, but no other boys in sight.</p><p>“Jaemin and Donghyuck buy their lunch.” He explained as the two of you reached the table. Jisung looked up at Chenle’s voice, eyes widening as he made eye contact with you. “Hey, Jisungie! I invited Y/N to sit with us today!”</p><p>Your friend then gave you a light shove for you to scoot in beside Jisung, then sandwiched you on your other side. “Hi, Y/N. You uh, you should’ve told me you were coming.” Jisung commented, returning to what he had been writing on before.</p><p>“Chenle just asked me last period, sorry.” You peered over his shoulder at what he was doing. “Oh, did you not finish the worksheet this morning?“</p><p>"Yeah, I was just a little distracted.”</p><p>It was then that another boy approached the table, moving the two bookbags to sit across from the three of you. “Oh, hello.”</p><p>“Hey, Renjun!” Chenle greeted his friend enthusiastically. “Y/N decided to join us today.”</p><p>“Ah, nice to meet you.” Renjun nodded politely to you, then squinted at the boy on your other side. “You’re being rude, Jisung.”</p><p>“Excuse me?” His head snapped up as he looked at his friend.</p><p>“Didn’t even say hi to me when I sat down. I thought I meant more than that to you.”</p><p>“You mean nothing to me.” Jisung shot back, and you giggled at his friend’s offended gasp.</p><p>“Does anyone mean anything to Jisung?” Another sarcastic voice joined the conversation as the two missing boys returned with their lunch.</p><p>“Of course, Jaemin.” The shorter of the two scoffed. “I do.”</p><p>“No you don’t.” Jisung immediately retorted, eyes still on his math paper.</p><p>“Well then how about whoever that is next to you?”</p><p>He briefly flitted his eyes up to look at you, his face softening for a moment. “Y/N, the annoying one is Jaemin and the other annoying one is Donghyuck.”</p><p>“Oh, so this is Y/N! Hello!” The one that had already been named as Jaemin greeted you with a blinding smile. “I’m Na Jaemin, and the actually annoying one is Donghyuck.”</p><p>“Hey!” Donghyuck said indignantly, pushing up his sleeves to grab his sandwich. “No I’m not.”</p><p>“Nice to meet you all.” You replied.</p><p>As friendly chatter sprang up around the friends, you leaned towards Jisung to look at his paper. “Number twelve is cosecant x squared.” You murmured under your breath to him, pointing to the problem.</p><p>“Thanks.” Jisung’s free hand grabbed yours appreciatively for a split second before returning to holding the paper still as he erased his answer.</p><p>“Did my ears deceive me, or did Park Jisung just get a math problem wrong?” Renjun announced loudly, snatching the paper from in front of him.</p><p>His other friends eagerly clamored to look at the mistake, and you turned to see Jisung’s face getting red as they did so. “Sorry.” You apologized, but he shook his head against your apology.</p><p>“No, it’s okay. They need an ego boost once in a while.” He reassured you, bumping your shoulder with his playfully.</p><p>You bumped him back, finally earning a smile from him as he bumped you again. You continued going back and forth until you accidentally knocked into Chenle, nearly sending him off the edge of the bench.</p><p>“Bullying! This is bullying!” He immediately yelped out as he regained his bearings.</p><p>“Ooh, are we bullying Chenle?” Renjun practically threw Jisung’s paper down, an ecstatic look on his face.</p><p>“No, we’re not!”</p><p>Through your laughs, you backed your friend up, “Yeah, it was an accident.”</p><p>“Damn.” The older boy clicked his tongue in disappointment, reaching out to pick Jisung’s worksheet back up, but the youngest grabbed it before he did. “How did math star Park Jisung even get a question wrong? It’s unheard of.”</p><p>“Maybe because you guys are being annoying,” Jisung suggested, finishing erasing the incorrect answer.</p><p>“Now you sound like Jeno.”</p><hr/><p>The rest of the lunch period continued on like that, friendly banter between the boys, with you adding your input every once in a while. You mainly just listened to them with an amused smile on your face. At one point, Donghyuck had commented on how pretty your eyes were and within the context, it was perfectly friendly, but you could immediately feel Jisung tense up beside you. His fingers were turning white with how tightly he was holding his pencil, and you thanked Donghyuck with a laugh as you wrestled the pencil from your other friend’s grasp.</p><p>“You can finish that later, Jisungie.” You insisted, setting the freed pencil back onto the lunch table. “You haven’t eaten a single bite of food.”</p><p>“I don’t have any food today.”</p><p>Without a second thought, you slid the half of your lunch you hadn’t eaten yet over to him. “I’m full anyway.”</p><p>“You sure?”</p><p>“Eat the damn food.”</p><p>“Why don’t you ever take care of <em>me</em> like that?” Chenle whined loudly, and you flicked him on the forehead.</p><p>“You’re way more annoying than him.” You told him, emphasizing your facial expression as you signed annoying.</p><p>“She’s not taking care of me!” Jisung protested through a mouthful of food.</p><p>Jaemin shook his head, “She is.”</p><p>“For sure,” added Donghyuck.</p><p>“It’s really cute, don’t worry, Jisungie!” Renjun reached over to pinch his friend’s cheek.</p><hr/><p>You were stood outside the front door of the school, bouncing on your feet as you waited for Jisung. He did say that he had to talk to his last period teacher before joining you outside, so you just read and reread the shopping list for today. Your friend soon found you, apologizing for keeping you waiting with a sheepish smile.</p><p>“It’s okay, Jisung. Let’s go.” With no hesitation, you linked your arm with his to start walking towards the front gate.</p><p>“I’m sorry about lunch.” He suddenly blurted out, and you looked up at him curiously.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“They were really annoying.”</p><p>“I went into it knowing how annoying Chenle is, so I figured the others would be similar. But seriously, Jisung, they were really great. I’m glad you’ve got some great friends.”</p><p>His face contorted into something between an awkward smile and a pained grimace. “I didn’t even call them my friends until a little while ago, even though I’ve known them for years.”</p><p>“Chenle had mentioned that. Why?”</p><p>“I don’t really know, actually. Never saw a reason to, I guess.”</p><p>“We’re friends, right?”</p><p>“Of course.” He let out a short laugh, rubbing your arm reassuringly as the two of you turned down the street away from the school. “Of course we are. You’re like, the first person I really did call my friend.”</p><p>A relieved glimmer crossed your lips, “Good. I’m honored.”</p><p>“I’m not trying to be rude, but do you have other friends, besides Chenle and me?”</p><p>“Does Jeno count?”</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>“Then yes, I do.”</p><p>Jisung’s voice changed noticeably, you could practically hear his frown. “That’s it?”</p><p>“Kim Jungwoo.”</p><p>“Who’s that?”</p><p>“Mrs. Kim’s TA,” You mumbled, looking down at the sidewalk.</p><p>“A TA does <em>not</em> count, Y/N.”</p><p>“Fine, then I’m just a friendless loser, thanks Jisung.”</p><p>You had meant it to be a sarcastic joke, but instead, it came out as a bitterly biting comment. Your companion immediately backtracked, long arms wrapping around your shoulders as he apologetically hugged you to his chest. “I didn’t mean it like that, I’m sorry! I wasn’t trying to be an asshole but I was, I’m sorry Y/N! I was more shocked that nobody else here had seen how great you are and you know, befriended you. Because you really are super cool and wonderful and I’m honestly surprised that you’re my friend after the super shitty way I treated you just because I didn’t understand your auditory processing disorder, and I wish I could knock some sense into them about how great you are but I also don’t want to because then you’ll meet better people than me and I don’t want to share my favorite person in the world.”</p><p>After his long ramble, you could hear him audibly suck in some air, and you were glad that your face was burrowed into his chest so that he couldn’t see your surely pink cheeks and absolutely fucking lovestruck grin. You encircled his torso with your own arms, pulling the both of you even closer together. “Jisung?”</p><p>“Y-Yeah?”</p><p>“You’re my favorite person too.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“Surprised?”</p><p>“Don’t you have friends from your old school or something?”</p><p>“Yeah, lots. But that doesn’t mean they’re better than you.”</p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p>“One more question, and don’t you dare let me go right now, Park Jisung, I can practically hear your awkward little thoughts.” You scolded him, earning a slight chuckle as he obliged, tightening his grip on you more. “Good, now tell me, was that a confession or have I finally gone completely insane?”</p><p>You could hear Jisung’s breath hitch in his throat as he practically froze in your grip. His heart was pounding even louder by your ear, pretty much the only indication that he wasn’t an actual statue. You patiently waited for him to answer, knowing that you had caught him off-guard and about a subject that he was uncomfortable with. But you needed to know, you couldn’t keep playing a 'does he or does he not?’ game with yourself. Especially when every time you thought to yourself 'he does,’ you just found yourself even more smitten with him.</p><p>“I didn’t mean it to be, it just kind of happened. I’m sorry.” His voice got smaller and smaller as he spoke, and you could feel his head twisting shamefully away from you.</p><p>But you held fast to him, your chest shaking with relief. “Don’t apologize, Jisung. I like you too.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“What do you mean, why?” You finally let him go to look up at him, curiously scanning his now extremely red face. “Why wouldn’t I?”</p><p>“Because…”</p><p>“Because…?”</p><p>“I’m…”</p><p>“You’re what? Awkward? Weird? Sometimes a little arrogant? Gangly? Funny-looking?”</p><p>“Well, that hurt.” He wrinkled his nose, and you reached up to pinch it, earning a glare from him.</p><p>“That’s what you were thinking, right?”</p><p>“Mhm.”</p><p>“Stop.” You shook your head, waiting for him to look up from his fidgeting hands at you before you spoke again. “I like you, don’t try to convince me otherwise.”</p><p>A grin tugged at the edges of his lips, “Got it.”</p><p>“Good.”</p><p>“Now what?”</p><p>“Now,” You linked his arm with yours to continue walking. “We go grocery shopping.”</p><hr/><p>“Mom! I’m home!” You announced as you walked in, setting your grocery bags down. Pointing to the kitchen table, you nodded for Jisung to put your school bags on it. At the grocery store, he had insisted on carrying your bookbags since you were also carrying the bags of food.</p><p>“Did you get everything on the list?” She called back from her home office, and you knew exactly what she was talking about.</p><p>“Yeah! Are you going to come say hi to Jisung or is he going to have to yell at you too?”</p><p>“I guess I’ll stand up or something.” Your mom said in a mock exasperated tone, and you gave Jisung an encouraging smile.</p><p>When your mom walked into the kitchen, she first kissed your temple before turning to look up at Jisung with an elated grin. “Hello, Jisung! How are you?”</p><p>“Hello, Ms. Y/L/N.” Your friend’s voice squeaked and he coughed to cover it up as you tried to stifle your snickers. “I’m-I’m doing well. Thank you for inviting me over for dinner.”</p><p>“Oh, it’s no problem! I had to or Y/N never would.”</p><p>“I would have!” You butted in indignantly, and she laughed.</p><p>“I’m just kidding, honey. Thanks for getting the food. I have a couple things for work to finish then I’ll start dinner, okay? You two can go hang out.”</p><p>“Thanks, Mom!”</p><p>“Thank you, Ms. Y/L/N.” Jisung nodded politely, turning to leave the kitchen but you stopped him with a hand on his chest.</p><p>“Grab your math.”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Really.” You crossed your arms, waiting for him to grab his bag.</p><p>With a sigh, he did as you asked, then you grabbed his elbow to tow him down towards your room. Pushing the door open, you kicked an empty water bottle out of your way, “My room’s a little messy, but I did clear out most of the mess this morning before I went to school.”</p><p>“A lot better than mine.” He snorted, taking in your decor and couple of articles of clothing strewn across the room.</p><p>You grabbed them, tossing them in your hamper before kicking your shoes off and plopping yourself down on your bed. Jisung was still standing in the middle of your room, looking.</p><p>“You gonna stand there all day?” You questioned, patting the space beside you.</p><p>He sat down, opening his backpack to take out his math binder and a pencil. As he worked, you scrolled on your phone, answering the occasional text from Chenle as he worked on his part of the project. You could also be working on it, but he had insisted on keeping all of the materials at his house, and at the time you were too tired to argue. The project wasn’t due for another week, you could have plenty of time to finish it.</p><p>[chenle: now that we’re done talking about imperialism bullshit, let’s get to the really important stuff]</p><p>[you: what could possibly be more important than that?]</p><p>[chenle: jisung]</p><p>[you: shit, you right]</p><p>[you: his voice cracked when he said hi to my mom which was pretty funny]</p><p>[you: and right now he’s doing his math homework]</p><p>[chenle: seriously?]</p><p>Readjusting on your bed, you scooted around to lean against Jisung’s side, his arm supporting your head. He adjusted to continue writing with the arm you weren’t on, letting out a small noise of approval once the two of you were comfortable.</p><p>[you: seriously]</p><p>[chenle: lame]</p><p>[you: what did you expect, a fervent makeout session?]</p><p>[chenle: well no, but it amazes me that you two are still such nerds even outside of school]</p><p>[chenle: you’re really meant for each other or something]</p><p>[you: about that…]</p><p>It was then that you heard Jisung say your name, and you looked up from your phone to him as it kept buzzing. Looking at him expectantly, you waited for him to do something other than just smile down at you fondly.</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“Nothing.” He grinned, returning to his math, prompting you to look back to your screen.</p><p>[chenle: Y/N???]</p><p>[chenle: WHAT?????]</p><p>[chenle: WHAT ABOUT THAT]</p><p>[chenle: Y/N GET BACK HERE]</p><p>[chenle: Y/L/N Y/N YOU CAN’T JUST INSINUATE SOMETHING THEN LEAVE]</p><p>[you: i’m back, chenle]</p><p>[you: no need to be so dramatic]</p><p>[chenle: what were you going to say?]</p><p>[you: i was going to say that i’m tired so i’ll talk to you later]</p><p>[chenle: i hate you]</p><p>And with that, you turned your phone to silent and clicked it off. “Jisungie?”</p><p>“Hm?” He hummed in response, tapping the eraser side of the pencil to his mouth as his eyes scanned the question.</p><p>“How far are you?”</p><p>“A couple more problems left, why?”</p><p>“Just curious.” You said, cut off by a yawn.</p><p>“You sound tired.”</p><p>“A little bit.”</p><p>“Here,” Jisung lifted up his binder, transferring it to one thigh as he maneuvered your head under his arm to use his other leg as a pillow. “Take a nap or something.”</p><p>You settled into your comfortable new position, allowing your eyes to close. You highly doubted that you’d be able to actually sleep with your heart hammering so loudly in your ears, but the least you could do was rest your eyes a little bit. “You confuse me, Park Jisung.”</p><p>“How so?”</p><p>Grabbing his free hand with yours, you could feel his slight flinch before you guided it to rest on your head. “You do shit like this,” You patted his knee, “but then when <em>I</em> initiate any sort of contact you freak out.”</p><p>His fingers started gently running through your hair, and he shifted slightly underneath you. “Sorry.”</p><p>“Don’t apologize, I was just curious as to why.”</p><p>“I don’t know, still the jitters.”</p><p>“You’re all confident when you do anything but you suddenly get the jitters as soon as I do anything?”</p><p>“Well…”</p><p>“It’s cute.” You concluded, squinting your eyes open a little bit to be able to accurately pinch his cheek. “You’re really cute, Jisung.”</p><p>Then you closed your eyes again, but you were sure that if they were open his ears would’ve been red and the pink tinge would be spreading to his cheeks and his neck. Neither of you said anything as he did another problem and you relaxed back into something of a half-slumber. Your tiredness felt heavy and palpable in your veins, and you just let it drip through you like a thick syrup. Jisung probably finished his math at some point, as you heard a soft thud of something falling onto your carpet, which you assumed to be his binder. His fingers were still playing with your hair and the sound of his now steady breathing further lulled you into your trance.</p><p>The garish sound of his phone going off almost tempted you to open your eyes, especially when he cursed under his breath as he went to turn down the volume, obviously thinking you were asleep. You nearly giggled but maintained your resting composure as he answered the call.</p><p>“What do you want, Chenle?” He whispered.</p><p>“Why are you whispering?” Chenle was just as loud as normal, and you could hear Jisung turn his phone down even more.</p><p>“Because Y/N is asleep, you annoying idiot.”</p><p>“First, ouch. Second, you guys are literally the most boring people I know. Math homework and a nap? Lame.”</p><p>Jisung huffed, “Not everybody needs to be running around the whole continent to have a good time, Chenle.”</p><p>“Okay, fair enough. So… anything happen other than you doing math homework and Y/N taking a nap?”</p><p>“We went grocery shopping.” Jisung’s answered had satisfied your curiosity as to whether or not he would tell Chenle about your confessions earlier. You yourself wanted to go on a few dates before telling anybody at all, much less your loud friend who you loved to death but couldn’t keep a secret.</p><p>“Oh my god you two already sound like a middle-aged married couple whose idea of fun is watching a new nature documentary on National Geographic.” Chenle snorted, and you could just imagine Jisung’s eyes rolling as your friend spoke.</p><p>“I’m hanging up now.”</p><p>“Fine, have fun watching her sleep.”</p><p>“Hey, that makes me sound creepy!”</p><p>“Isn’t that what you were doing?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Sure. Anyway, Xuxi is calling for me so we’ll talk later! Fill me on everything, even the boring stuff. Which sounds like most of it.”</p><p>“Nope.”</p><p>“Fine. Bye!”</p><p>You heard the click and buzz after Chenle hung up, and Jisung breathes out a sigh of relief, “That boy.”</p><p>His fingers took purchase in your locks again, soothing both you and him as he hummed softly to himself. A few more minutes passed of you on the edge of sleep and Jisung letting you rest.</p><p>“I’m absolutely fucked.” He chuckled affectionately to himself. “You’re pretty amazing, Y/L/N Y/N.”</p><p>You fought desperately not to grin ear-to-ear at his little confession, just sleepily grabbing at one of his arms to cradle it to your chest like a stuffed animal. Jisung let out a shaky breath, letting you cuddle up to his arm, “Shit.”</p><p>Some amount of time had passed when you could feel the call of your bladder overtaking your want to just remain like this for the rest of your life. Blinking your heavy lids open, you let go of Jisung’s arm to rub at your tacky eyes.</p><p>“Morning, Y/N.” He brushed a stray hair off your forehead, and you felt your heart soar with the adoring way he was looking down at you.</p><p>“It’s like almost seven pm, Jisung, try again.” You scoffed, lifting yourself up into a sitting position and swinging your legs over the edge of the bed.</p><p>“Evening, Y/N.”</p><p>“There you go.” Standing up, you stretched until you heard your back crack, then rolled out your neck.</p><p>“Where are you going?”</p><p>You signed <em>bathroom</em> over your shoulder at him, but remembered that he didn’t know sign language. “To pee.” You answered bluntly, leaving your bedroom.</p><p>“Don’t drown!” He called after you jokingly.</p><p>When you looked into your bathroom mirror, despite the slight mascara smudging under your eyes to add to your eyebags, and the little bit of drool you had to wipe away from your mouth, and your frizzy hair, you were absolutely beaming. A sort of glow was around you that you had been noticing as you fell more and more into the awkward, kind of a jerk, that was Park Jisung. Washing your hands and wiping off the remainder of your mascara, you gave yourself a final grin and finger guns of encouragement.</p><p>Jisung perked up from his spot on your bed as you sat back down across from him. “I have a question.”</p><p>“Go ahead.”</p><p>“You know sign language, right?”</p><p>“I’m learning it, yes.”</p><p>“Could you maybe— I don’t know, teach me something?”</p><p>Your mouth twitched with happiness at his request. “Of course. How about your name?”</p><p>You were patient with Jisung as you taught him each symbol of his name, just glad that he was genuinely trying to learn something new, something that you enjoyed. Most people you knew just dismissed your habit of signing as you spoke as some little quirk, but he seemed to be taking a real interest in it, you could always see his eyes stray to your hands whenever you did so. His fingers stiffly copied your own, and you had to move his thumb several times for one character until he got it. Finally, he could say <em>Hello, my name is Park Jisung.</em></p><p>“Ah, there you go! That was beautiful!” You cheered, signing along to <em>beautiful.</em></p><p>“Was that the sign for beautiful?” He asked, copying the sign you just did.</p><p>“Yep.” You nodded, repeating it for him.</p><p>“So…” Jisung pointed to you, then signed <em>beautiful.</em></p><p>That same lovesick grin curled your lips up, “Yes, you little shit.”</p><p>Then, your mom’s voice called out for you, “Y/N! Jisung! Dinner’s ready!”</p><p>“Well, come on.” You hopped up off your bed, him following you to the kitchen table which your mother had already set for you. Normally that was your job, but you guessed that she was just so excited to have three seats occupied instead of your regular two.</p><p>Your mother brought out bowls and plates full of food, setting them in the middle of the table, then shooed the both of you into your seats. Dinner was anything but eventful, just how you liked it. Jisung eventually seemed to have relaxed around your mom, and she seemed very satisfied with your friend by the end of the night.</p><p>After you and Jisung had gotten the dishes cleared and in the dishwasher, you soon had to say goodbye to him at the door so that he could get home at a reasonable time.</p><p>“See you Monday, Y/N.” He said as he hugged you, and you peered up at him questioningly.</p><p>“You busy this weekend?”</p><p>“Well, no.”</p><p>“Then we should do something.”</p><p>“Like what?”</p><p>“A date.” You suggested nonchalantly, smirking at his immediate stammering.</p><p>“R-right. Of course. Yes, I’d like that.”</p><p>“I’m thinking ice cream.”</p><p>“S-sure.”</p><p>“Tomorrow afternoon?”</p><p>“Works for me.”</p><p>“Cool, then it’s a date.” You gave him a final squeeze before letting him go. “Bye, Jisung.”</p><p>“Bye, Y/N.” He waved as he set off down the sidewalk.</p><hr/><p>It was several weeks later on a Tuesday that found you with hot tears pricking at your eyes as you sat alone in your bedroom, math textbook and papers sprawled out on your bed. Of course you had to miss first period that day because you’d slept in past your alarm, and the day before Mrs. Kim had requested you to come in during your lunch that day, so you couldn’t get the notes or any kind of explanation from Jisung, he just texted you the assigned textbook numbers. And on top of that, your boyfriend was working today, meaning that you couldn’t ask him for help now, or even call him up to rant and get his usual patient reassurance in your own capabilities.</p><p>Then you suddenly remembered that Chenle’s brother tutored. On Tuesdays and Thursdays. Throwing your stuff haphazardly back into your schoolbag, you shouldered it and stuffed your feet back into your shoes.</p><p>“I’ll be back later, mom!” You yelled back to her as you rant out the front door.</p><p>You figured that Xuxi was done tutoring around five, based on when he had gotten back the night you ate dinner at Chenle’s house. It was only four, so you could hopefully catch him with enough time for him to teach this to you. Panting, you threw the doors to the library open, startling the librarian working the front desk. You could immediately spot Xuxi, sitting in the corner of the library at a table, looking very bored as there were no pupils around him.</p><p>“Ah, Xuxi!” You called out to him, much louder than you should have in the library, shuffling over to him quickly.</p><p>“Hey, Y/N!” He quietly greeted you with a smile, seeming to be the only brother to actually know what an inside voice was. “What’s up?”</p><p>“Math is dumb.” You declared, sitting beside him and pulling out your textbook and papers.</p><p>“Says you.”</p><p>“Yeah, says me.” You snorted, flipping through your book to find the right page. “Trigonometric identities can suck my ass, they make no damn sense, and I missed the lecture this morning, and I haven’t seen Jisung all day, and he’s working right now so I can’t ask him anything about it, and of fucking course it’s not like the textbook would give me any helpful information, either.”</p><p>“Y/N,” Xuxi said calmly. “Slow down. Take some deep breaths.”</p><p>“Fine.”</p><p>Obliging, you breathed along with Xuxi, feeling your mind clear and relax a little bit more.</p><p>“Better?” He asked.</p><p>“Yeah, a little.”</p><p>“Good. Now, what are we doing, trig identities?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>Xuxi nodded, skimming your page as you brought out your pencil and a fresh sheet of paper. As he spoke, you listened with rapt attention, trying to associate it with what he was writing. Chewing on your lip, you still found yourself confused.</p><p>“Uhm, Xuxi?”</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“Could you maybe— uh, write more of what you’re saying, with like, drawings or something? I just— I have this uh, auditory processing disorder, and that would really help me.”</p><p>“Oh! Of course!” He immediately went to fix and adjust his explanation, adding in whatever you needed, arrows and side notes helping you a lot more. “Was that better?”</p><p>You nodded, taking the paper to read it over again. “Yes, thank you.”</p><p>“No problem, thanks for telling me! They don’t teach us to teach someone like you, so I had to improvise. They really should though, it must be difficult for you.” Xuxi’s normally bright face darkened as he frowned at your educational injustice. “I’ll need to make sure I start doing this in my mock lesson plans.”</p><p>“Great, of course they don’t.” You grumbled, taking up your pencil to start tackling the first problem of your homework.</p><p>So you went through each question, Xuxi having to go back over several of them with you as you had gotten them wrong. He really did try his best readjust his teaching style for you, which absolutely helped. But he still didn’t quite grasp your exact needs like Jisung always seemed to know. You finally completed your last question and threw your pencil down with a satisfied groan.</p><p>“Finally.” You rolled out a crick in your neck before closing your textbook. “Thanks, Xuxi.”</p><p>“No problem, it’s my job! And it was a really interesting experience, forcing myself to change teaching styles.” Your friend’s older brother smiled as you packed up all your things back into your bag. Checking your phone for the first time since you’d left your house, you saw several texts as well as the fact that it was a quarter to six.</p><p>“Did I keep you here past your hours? I’m sorry.”</p><p>“Yeah, but it’s fine.” He stood up, and you followed suit, slinging your bag back over your shoulder.</p><p>“Do you want a ride?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Chenle said you were probably coming to our house to study, so it’d make sense for you to ride back with me.”</p><p>“He just texted me asking me to come over.” You rolled your eyes at your friend’s last-minute plan making, clearing that notification from your phone. “And I actually can’t, my mom wants me home after this. I’ll see you later, Xuxi.”</p><p>That wasn’t completely the truth, your mom would have approved of you going to the Zhong’s house, but what you really wanted was to talk to Jisung, so you didn’t even bother asking her.</p><p>“Alright, see you, Y/N.” Xuxi nodded politely, walking towards his car as you headed off down the street.</p><p>Thankfully, the library was plenty close to your house. You couldn’t wait to get home to call Jisung, especially not when your chest swelled reading the mixture of sweet and sarcastic text you’d gotten from him. Quickly pressing the call button beside his contact, you grew more excited as you heard the line ring.</p><p>“Y/N!” Your boyfriend’s familiar voice greeted you joyfully, immediately bringing a smile to your face. “How are you?”</p><p>“I’m great, Jisungie, a lot better than an hour and a half ago, actually.” You said with a relieved chuckle.</p><p>“What happened an hour and a half ago?” He sounded concerned now.</p><p>“Math happened.”</p><p>“Are you good? I might be able to get my parents to let me come over now since it’d be for school.”</p><p>“Thanks, but I actually did eventually get it. I ended up going to the library, Xuxi does math tutoring there so helped me out.”</p><p>There was a bitter pause before he said, “Xuxi.”</p><p>“Don’t you dare start thinking, Park Jisung.” You scolded him, already knowing where he was going to go. “Chenle’s a little shit and Xuxi is old and I’m dating you because I like you.”</p><p>“Thank you.” His voice was brighter again, and you relaxed again.</p><p>“Mhm. Did you know that they don’t teach teachers how to teach people like me? Poor dude had to improvise for some disorder he’d never heard of, much less knew how to adjust to.”</p><p>“That’s fucking ridiculous, why wouldn’t they teach them how to?” Jisung spat out.</p><p>“Because most schools don’t recognize it as a real learning disability.” You sighed, not happy with how the conversation had taken an angrier turn, even if it was Jisung defending you against the school system, and decided to change the conversation again. “So have you been practicing the KSL I taught you the other day?”</p><p>“Yeah, but why are there so many foods without signs? My hand starts cramping up having to spell all of those out.”</p><p>“I didn’t invent the language!”</p><p>And so your conversation continued on, your spirits were lifted just from being able to catch up with your boyfriend.</p><hr/><p>“Y/N, you’re on the board!” Jisung halted your trek into the classroom, pulling you over towards the bulletin board hung beside the door.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>Sure enough, your initials were up there, tied for second highest at a 100% with PJS. You couldn’t believe that you were on the list of top scores, much less with the same score as Jisung.</p><p>“Oh my god! I can’t believe it!” You squealed, letting go of his hand to throw your arms around Jisung’s neck ecstatically. “Thank you thank you thank you!”</p><p>“Why are you thanking me? It’s not like I took your tests for you. All that came from your brain.” He tapped your head teasingly.</p><p>“I know, but I’m thanking you because—as cheesy as it sounds—you believed in me.” You mumbled into his shoulder, trying not to let tears well up in your eyes. “Fucking hell, I’m crying about math.”</p><p>“Nooo, don’t cry!” He started walking the two of you away from the board, arms still firmly around your waist.</p><p>You burrowed your face further into the crook of his neck with a sniffle, “I’m trying not to, it’s just sort of happening.”</p><p>His large hand rubbed your back soothingly, and you could feel the slight tremor in it as he did so. Keeping one arm around his neck, you brought the other down to run a finger along his cheek, and his eyes looked at you with pure wonder in them. With no hesitation on your part, you gently pulled his face down to yours, pressing a soft kiss to his mouth. Just as you went to pull away, he gave you another small peck, lingering a little longer than you had. Your first kiss, with one of the most incredible people you knew.</p><p>“You’re pretty amazing, Park Jisung.” You murmured before letting him go, entwining your fingers with his again to guide him into your first period classroom.</p>
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